


A Strange Friendship

by impudent_strumpet



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: After Ohtori, Based on a Tumblr Post, Best Friends, Bullying, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Gay Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Class Differences, Class Issues, Dysfunctional Family, Elementary School, F/F, Falling In Love, Family, Family Issues, First Meetings, Flash Forward, Flashbacks, Headcanon, In part - Freeform, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Nervousness, Post-Canon, Post-High School, Protectiveness, Reminiscing, Same-Sex Marriage, School, Tension, Wealth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 07:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12789774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impudent_strumpet/pseuds/impudent_strumpet
Summary: Another one-shot I've pulled entirely out of my rear! YAY! I actually wrote this over two months ago, but it would have been too sudden to upload then.





	A Strange Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> I read somewhere on the Utena Explained Tumblr a while back that if Shiori is friends with Juri, that would mean her family is either rich or social ladder climbers, since the Arisugawas are filthy stinking rich (possibly even richer than the Kiryuus!). I found myself then forming the headcanon that the Takatsukis are social ladder climbers. It just seemed fitting, probably since Shiori herself is very competitive through a good chunk of the anime, particularly towards getting to the top rather than staying there, and...Shiori just never came off to me as coming from wealth. Not compared to Juri or any of the other characters. I don't really know what it is. There also had to be a reason she was always looked down on so much in comparison to Juri, so I figured classism could very well have been a good part of that reason. I guess Shiori could be a lonely rich kid, but her at least being far less wealthy than Juri and her classmates seemed a more interesting theory to me.  
> Inspired also by, when someone asked (I think in a thread on ohtori.nu or someplace) just how Shiori's self-esteem could have sank so abysmally, dangerously low, people saying she must have been bullied (especially since she said Juri always protected her)...although I'm thinking she had to be bullied pretty badly to get like that.
> 
> So, yeah. The struggles of upper-middle class Shiori, since childhood, in a few of the most upper crust environments there are. There are also some references to The Mill On The Floss and the British Channel 4 movie Good And Bad At Games, both of which my friend Masked_Man_2 is a huge fan of :D

It had been the clearest day Shiori could remember when she had first met Juri Arisugawa.  
  
She had been put into her best dress, a powder blue one with white lace around the neckline and hem, thick white tights, and freshly polished shoes. Her mother had fussed for at least an hour over making Shiori look her very best, and Shiori had hated every moment of it. The dress felt tight and starched, the tights made her legs itch, and the shoes pinched her toes. Then, after all of this, her mother had yanked a brush through her daughter's short violet hair, so hard Shiori nearly shrieked with every stroke, if they could be called that, and then slathered some strange oil into the roots and through the strands. It made Shiori's hair feel slimy to the touch. She had frowned when she looked in the mirror. She looked ridiculous, like an overdressed china doll in a little girl of four years who was meant to run and play and get dirty. What even was the occasion? She had been told she was just going to meet the daughter of a family that her parents had become acquainted with.  
  
The path through the gate to this strange family's residence seemed to go on forever, but Shiori had tried her hardest not to let any dust on the ground stain her shiny black shoes, as she felt the heat of her mother's glare on her and the tightness of her hand as it clenched hers and led her along. The sun beat down on Shiori, and she hoped to the gods above that it, combined with her nervousness, would not stain her dress with sweat. She sighed, taking some solace in that there would at least be a girl her age to play with.  
  
When they were let in, Shiori's eyes widened at the sight. The ceiling seemed to touch the sky, sunlight poured through the windows, beautiful, colorful paintings hung on the walls, and the polished floor gleamed beneath her feet. It looked more like a palace than a house. Shiori saw at once why her mother had taken such pains to make her look her best...yet even so, she felt plain and unsightly compared even to the servants who bustled along.  
  
She did not have long to stand and gape at her surroundings, though, before she and her family were quickly ushered into another room and seated on the softest white couch Shiori had ever felt. Still feeling nervous, especially so in the quietness and the lavish display that surrounded them at every turn, Shiori scooted closer to her mother and clung to her arm. Her mother simply ignored her.  
  
A few moments passed, then a man in a crisp dark suit and a woman in a flowing blue dress and bedecked in silver jewelry walked in. Shiori's parents quickly stood, Shiori hopping off the couch behind them, as the sets of parents greeted each other. Shiori's mother then took her hand and pulled her out in front of them.  
  
"This is our daughter, Shiori," she said.  
  
"Oh, she looks just like you, Takatsuki-san!" the woman gushed. She then proceeded to introduce her elder daughter, but Shiori did not even hear because, when she looked straight ahead at the couple's younger daughter, right across from her...  
  
She faced easily the most stunning little girl she had ever seen in her life.  
  
The girl had a cascade of bright orange hair flowing down her back with some swept onto one shoulder, her bangs two ringlets that framed her pale face, from which two wide eyes, a soft-blue green like the sea, stared back at her. She wore a dress of a deep, rich navy blue trimmed with white, with matching tights and shoes. What both startled and captivated Shiori the most, though, was the way the girl stared back at her. For a child of four, she appeared so composed, reserved, and solemn, not loud and chirping and bouncy like other girls Shiori knew.  
  
Suddenly Shiori felt a hard pinch from her mother, startling her out of her reverie. She winced and rubbed her arm.  
  
"Shiori!" her mother scolded. "Don't be rude! Say hello to Juri."  
  
The girl's name was Juri. Shiori realized then what she had missed in her trance.  
  
"Sorry about that," her mother said quickly to Juri's.  
  
Juri's mother laughed. "That's quite alright."  
  
"P-Pleased to meet you, Juri...san," Shiori stammered, tentatively lowering herself into a bow. She did not know why then she had called the girl, who was her own age, Juri- _san_ , but...somehow it felt right, like it was what she should do. The girl felt...higher than her in some way. "I'm Shiori."  
  
Much more gracefully, the other girl bowed in turn. "Pleased to meet you too."  
  
Juri's mother then patted her daughter on the back. "You too may go run along and play now." She smiled.  
  
Juri reached over and grabbed Shiori's hand then, smiling a little and seeming a bit more animated, and pulled her along behind her as they ran off.  
  
"Don't you mess up that dress, Shiori!" Shiori's mother yelled to her as they left.  
  
  


~

  
  
Shiori had not had the best time at Ohtori Academy as a child, particularly in elementary school. It was such a gigantic, stately, and very intimidating school, especially for a small child, practically the size of a small country. She had never seen anything like it.  
  
Juri was still her friend, and they had built a strong friendship, but...Juri remained her only friend. None of the other children seemed to like Shiori. It was as if they deemed her beneath them. They actually all gave off a very similar air to Juri, although not exactly the same as her.  
  
Shiori was glad, at least, that she and her classmates would always be together at school, like in class, at lunch, at recess...but there were other times, like if Shiori had to go to the nurse or to the bathroom...  
  
The bathroom. Well.  
  
Shiori had been bullied a  _lot_  back then, often by the same group, and she remembered one time, when she was around nine years old, they cornered her, taunting and laughing right in her face. Desperate to hide her tears and escape them, Shiori had run away then and shut herself in a bathroom stall...but the girls only followed her into the bathroom and surrounded her.  
  
"Awwwhhh, she's crying," one of the girls, with dark hair that curled at the ends, jeered. "You want to cry some more for us, you little insect?"  
  
The other girls taunted her loudly in like kind, chanted, throwing insults over and over again. The noise and the cruel words surrounded Shiori, echoing off the wall of the bathroom stall, stinging her like a thousand wasps and seeming to press down on her.  
  
"Please! Go away!" she screamed.  
  
 ** _THUD!_**  
  
The cruel teasing stopped then, and the girls turned towards the doorway of the bathroom.  
  
"What are you doing?!" a loud, imposing voice demanded. Shiori knew it. It was unmistakably Juri's. She took a few steps further into the bathroom. "Is that Shiori in there?!"  
  
She walked further in until she was just outside the stall, and Shiori opened the door for her.   
  
The dark-haired girl then pulled Shiori out of the stall by her sleeve.  
  
" _You're_  friends with  _her_?" the girl sneered in Shiori's ear, referring to Juri.  
  
"That's right! She's my friend!" Juri retorted, wrapping an arm around Shiori's shoulder and pulling her in close. Shiori slipped an arm around her protectress' waist and buried her face in the puffed sleeve of her uniform blouse. Juri then gently set Shiori on the floor of the bathroom and stepped in front of her, facing the other girls.  
  
"Get out.  _Now_ ," she commanded.  
  
Shiori couldn't see the glare on Juri's face, but it was apparently enough to make the girls shrink away and scurry out of the bathroom right then, much to Shiori's relief.  
  
Juri turned back towards Shiori and knelt beside her, looking much softer and gentler now. "Are you alright?" she asked, pulling her friend into her arms.  
  
Shiori sniffed and let herself cry a little more, her tears staining Juri's blouse, but Juri not seeming to mind at all. Her hand ran up and down Shiori's back in soothing motions, and her embrace felt so warm and safe.  
  
It was such a strange friendship they had. Juri had so much, had such a presence, seemed to shine so bright, and Shiori felt so dim, obscure, and almost ugly compared to her and the others around them. Their classmates never hesitated to remind Shiori of this, yet Juri would always protect and defend her. Shiori had never understood why one so brilliant would befriend, and later fall in love with, one so plain, unremarkable, lonely, and deemed as lesser and lower. For the longest time she couldn't even believe the trueness of her friend's feelings.  
  
That was until that miraculous day, years later, after a such a tempestuous time, of love, hatred, passion, jealousy, possessiveness, sadism, self-loathing, and heartbreak all warring together in Shiori's mind and heart. It was somehow, amidst all of this, when the revelation dawned on her, resonating through her being with such a weight that left her shaking, that Juri had truly loved her all along. Shiori had messed up a lot, to say the least, and she regretted it, but she was finally ready then to atone. She had always known, deep within, that Juri was her one and only.  
  
And it would be that way forever.  
  
  


~

  
  
"Are you absolutely sure of this?"  
  
Juri lifts her chin and looks straight into Takatsuki-san's eyes. "Yes."  
  
Takatsuki-san leans back in her chair and continues staring at Juri, as if expecting more.  
  
Juri continues. "Shiori and I have been best friends our whole lives. We love each other that way, but in a different way too, and we want to be married. We want to spend the rest of our lives together."  
  
Takatsuki-san sits there for a moment, then rises from her chair and starts to pace. "How long have you two been together?"  
  
Juri frowns. She could swear either she or Shiori had told Takatsuki-san this before. "Since we were in high school."  
  
Takatsuki-san nods, then turns and looks absently out the window. "Things have taken...quite an unexpected turn since then," she notes, as if reminiscing. "Back then, I would have thought your parents would have preferred you to marry that nice boy Tsuchiya Ruka, until he unfortunately passed."  
  
Juri continues to stare into her. "That would have been their decision as my parents, yes. But that was back then. Things are different now, as you said."  
  
Takatsuki-san turns towards Juri and smiles widely at her. "Juri, you know you've always been like a daughter to me."  
  
Juri tries not to cringe, feeling her anger rising.  
  
Seeming almost to sense her impatience, Takatsuki-san says, "All I want to know, Juri, is that you are sure of this. You're both still so young. You have so many options still...so many...paths of life to take. I want you both to be ready."  
  
Juri can see right through the woman at this point, after years of knowing her. Neither she nor Juri's parents would have ever planned a marriage between their daughters, but Takatsuki-san certainly would not object to it, though she did not want to seem eager. What she really wants out of this is a stable marriage for the two of them, as perfect as can be, but farther down the line and on  _her_  terms, not Juri's or Shiori's, so they will not divorce and have the wealth and assets go solely to Juri. Takatsuki-san was always about getting ahead. That, after all, had been the reason for Juri's and Shiori's arranged friendship so long ago. To establish connections between the two sets of parents.  
  
But things were different now. The two girls loved each other, and they were breaking free.  
  
Such a partnership could be exploited, but Juri has always protected Shiori. Even if she has to protect Shiori from her own mother, she will.  
  
Still, she takes a deep breath to maintain her composure. "Takatsuki-san. I have never been so ready, or wanted something so much, in my life. Neither has Shiori."  
  
Takatsuki-san is silent for a few moments, then sighs. "Very well. You may marry my daughter. I wish you both a long and fulfilling life together."  
  
"Thank you, Takatsuki-san." Juri bows, then turns and starts to walk out.  
  
"Juri," Takatsuki-san calls then.  
  
Juri stops just in front of the door and turns slightly.  
  
Takatsuki-san pauses for a moment, then says, her voice hard as flint, "I hope you really are content with her...even as she is."  
  
Juri stares at her coldly for a moment, then leaves and lets the door shut behind her.


End file.
